← Book More Photography Clients Podcast | Photography Business, Photography Leads, Marketing
Book More Photography Clients Podcast | Photography Business, Photography Leads, Marketing
Things You Don't Need to Justify as a Photographer
00:16:10
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- [00:00]
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Do you ever feel guilty when you take a break from editing or when you do something fun even though you have a list of galleries to finish? Do you feel guilty for showing up on social media wondering if your clients are watching your every move? Well, in today's episode, I'm going to reveal five things you don't have to justify or feel guilty about as a photographer. You ready? Let's dive in.
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Welcome to the Book More Clients Photography podcast. You can stop spending hours on Google and YouTube because you just found your number one resource for growing a profitable and sustainable photography business. Hi, I'm Brooke Jefferson. I'm a believer wife, mama to two, and Oklahoma family photographer. I left the classroom in 2018 to pursue my photography career full time. Now I'm here to help you do the same. In this podcast, we're covering the most asked about topics including pricing, marketing, client experience, and all things systems and workflows. You won't find any fluff or BS here. Just tried and true strategy. Are you ready? Grab your kids some snacks and charge those camera batteries. It's time to jump in.
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I remember this feeling of guilt very well in my business when I struggled with some of these things, specifically the one about showing up on social media, like showing something fun that I was doing with the kids or showing that on a Tuesday night I was at their baseball game or whatever the case may be. I remember always wanting to show bits and pieces of my personal life, but I felt like I I shouldn't or that I couldn't because I just had this overwhelming feeling that my clients were watching me like a hawk and they were going to judge me. Like, why aren't you at home editing our pictures? Like, what are you doing? Why are you trying to live a life? And it sounds so funny looking back, but this is a real struggle. So if you're in this boat or, you know, maybe you even resonate with this because it's something that you struggle with. Now, I hope that by the end of today's episode, you don't feel guilty for a single thing. And I do want to make one caveat before we actually get into these things. I always come at things with an open mind and an open heart, and I'm looking at things with the best intentions. I know that in our industry, especially when you hop on Facebook for five minutes and you hop into one of those photography groups, it seems like all people do is complain, bash their clients, take, tell nightmare stories. And so I just want to be very clear that I am not coming into this episode thinking that I'm entitled by any means and that my clients don't matter. That is absolutely not the case. So some of these things right now, they might feel minuscule or they might feel really big to you and it really doesn't matter where you fall on this spectrum. I want all of us to either nod our heads or walk away with the new found confidence and peace that these five things are okay and we don't have to justify them to anyone. So let's get into those five things. The first thing that you don't ever need to justify is your pricing. You don't need to have an explanation to another photographer about why you charge what you do. You don't need to have, you don't need to explain yourself to clients. And again, it's not an entitled thing. I want you to know that your pricing, like yes, you probably need to 1000% make it make sense to your clients, but you shouldn't ever apologize when someone says, oh, that's really expensive, that's out of my budget, etc. Right? That's okay, it's going to happen in business. But your pricing, you don't need to justify that to anybody. As long as you know that you're charging pricing, that is going to get you closer to your goals and you're doing everything with the best intention, that's all that matters. When it comes to your pricing, there's a lot that goes into it. It's not just shooting a camera and how long it takes you to edit. It also has to cover your equipment, your expertise, the value of your time. There's so much that goes into pricing. And so you should never feel bad if you are of the most expensive in your area. But you are really good at what you do and you give high quality work. Own it. That is okay. Absolutely own that. One of the other areas of pricing, and I know we have talked about this a lot on the podcast, is why comparing your pricing to other photographers is a losing game. And I just want to remind you that it is just like you don't have to justify your pricing or give someone a reason of why you charge what you charge or why you, you should never even feel bad about it. Okay? But you don't want to start comparing your pricing because same thing, that photographer doesn't owe you an explanation of why they charge what they charge either. We are all on this journey. I started as a $50 photographer back in, oh my goodness, when was it? 2014. And at the time $50 went a little bit further than it absolutely does now. And while I would still never justify $50, we all start selling somewhere. And so I want you to remember, we are all on our own journey. And we will, one day we will hit that wall. We will hit burnout. If we're on the lower end of pricing, those feelings will come up. It will hit us like a brick wall, and then we will reevaluate and we will raise our prices. So first and foremost, I know pricing is a big stressor and a frustration for you, and I just want to like, let's get that monkey off your back. Okay? Everybody sigh a breath of relief. It is okay. You do not have to justify your pricing to anyone at any time. Number two is your boundaries and also just living your life. Like I told you earlier in my story, I used to feel so guilty for, like, letting clients know I had a life outside of photography. That's so silly. But it's something that I had to walk through and I eventually had to realize, you know what? I bust my butt in my business and I work a lot of hours during the week if I want to go to my child's baseball game, who I'm doing this for anyway, and I want to spend my weekends unplugged, not communicating with clients, not working on galleries, I don't have to now. There's some Saturdays where it is the perfect day for me to edit for four to five hours. And I will do that, too. It's my choice. And it's your choice, too. You should never apologize about your business hours or about your response times. As long as they're reasonable. Okay, as long as they're reasonable. You should never have to justify why you only take a certain amount of sessions or what time of day you take those sessions, your personal time off your vacations that you take any of it. You don't have to justify living your life. Interrupting today's episode to tell you about our incredible podcast sponsor, the Contract Shop. If a storm damaged your home, you'd have insurance to cover it. 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If you can't run this business and enjoy it and be profitable and have clients who respect that, then what's the point? Right? What's the point? People who have nine to five jobs, it's not like they finish everything on Friday and there's nothing left on their to do list to get done. That's not the case at all. So again, all of this to encourage you. You do not have to justify your boundaries. The third thing is, and I love this one and you need to hear this right now. You do not have to justify saying no to certain types of sessions. Nope, you don't have to do it. If you are niched down. You know what you love to do. You know those sessions that every single time you take it, you feel resentful or you feel unqualified or whatever the case may be. If it's a session that you do not want to do, you don't have to do it. I don't care if it's for your best client, for your mom's co worker, I don't care. You can say no and you don't even have to say why you can say no. Obviously. Again, have to keep reminding you of this because man, I just see so much trash out there in our industry. This doesn't mean that you're rude. It doesn't mean that you're going to be disrespectful. It doesn't mean that you're going to be unprofessional. You can find a professional, kind way to say no. I'm so sorry, I don't offer that type of session or I'm not available. That's all you have to say. So I want to give you the freedom and the piece that it's okay to say no to certain types of sessions. Number four is you don't have to justify your education investments. Why is it that in any other industry out there or any other type of career, it is normal for you to do continuing education, for you to continue to get certifications to better your education, to continue to learn more and add skills to your plate. But why is it that for photographers, we don't want anyone to know that we took an editing course or that we attended a workshop, why this is normal. Like, this helps you. This shows that you value your business. Why do we act so weird about it? And if you're like, I don't act weird about it, I'm very open about it. I love that for you. But for some of you, you're like, I'm so scared to let anybody know that I buy presets. Guys, this is part of doing business. Okay? So whether it is a workshop, a course course, a mentorship, a program, a mastermind, presets, whatever it may be, it is okay to share those things. And in fact, I would encourage you to share more about that. You don't have to justify it to anybody why you did it or why you shouldn't do something either, right? It's totally okay. I want you to start viewing that as a way to build up your portfolio and your expertise and your value rather than making it feel like you're not good enough or oh, I had to go take this editing course because I'm not skilled enough to learn it on my own. That is not the case at all. Okay, So I don't know who this is for. It has to be for someone or I would not have written this down, but it came to my mind and it needed to be said. And our fifth and final thing, that you never have to justify as a photographer and hear me closely, okay? It's your growth timeline, it's your success. You never have to justify why you've been in business for 14 years and you just now found your most profitable year. You do not have to justify why success didn't happen in your first year of photography. You do not have to justify to anybody why you choose to run a part time photography business and you have a full time job that is no one's business. And if you love it and you use photography as simply a profitable outlet for you, that is amazing and I'm here to cheer you on all day long. You also don't ever have to justify for why you want to leave your 9 to 5 to go do something that you love even more, which is photography. You don't have to justify these things to anybody. Your success is your success where you are in your journey is very unique. You don't need to justify. Oh my goodness. Well, this one girl in my area, she just started last year and she already looks so much more successful than me. You have no idea. I want you just to be freaking proud of yourself for where you are right now in your journey. Let's start making a List. Pull out a sheet of paper. Pull out your notes app. Say it out loud. If you're listening to this, what are three things you can be really, really proud of yourself for? When you look at your photography journey, whether it's six months or 16 years, what is something that you are so proud of? You ready? I'll go with mine. You ready? Top three. First thing I thought of was the day that I started and putting myself out there. Wow. I look back now and yes, it's cringy. I'm like, oh my goodness, why did anybody even pay me $50? The work was terrible, but man, I took a chance on myself. That is the first thing I'm proud of. The second thing that I'm proud of is the day that I raised my prices because that was the day that everything changed for me. I knew that. Yeah, it's really cool when everybody wants to use you because you're charging next to nothing, but. But I really wanted clients that valued photography, that valued me as a photographer. And so when I shot up those prices, it is just, it's a privilege and it's an honor when people invest in me and they continue to pay me full price, no questions asked, year after year, session after session. And the third one, and probably my favorite I'm going to be really honest, is the day I went full time. It's the day that I committed to doing it. All that action I took to make it happen, all of the action in the last seven years that I've continued to take that has allowed me to continue to have a full time photography business. Those for me are the highlights of my career and I am just so blessed to get to do this and I hope you feel so proud of yourself. What are your top three things that you are proud of yourself for? It doesn't have to be big like leaving a 9 to 5. It could be a mindset shift that you had. You know, you went from never talking about your photography business to you finally made your first post and you made it public. Or now when people ask you what you do, you say, yes, I am a photographer. So I just want to encourage you today, do not ever feel guilty or feel like you have to justify why you are where you are in your journey. Your success is your success. Okay, very quick recap and then I'm going to let you go. Top five things that you do not have to justify as a photographer. Number one, your pricing. Number two, your boundaries. You just live in your life. Number three, saying no to certain types of sessions. Number four, your education investments and number five, your success timeline. I hope you are encouraged. I am cheering you on. I hope you have the best day. And if you took something away from this, you were like, man, I'm on fire. I loved this episode. Please come shoot me a DM over on Instagram. Brookejena photo. I will see you on the next episode.